Nicky Hayden Interview

31 July 2009

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Nicky Hayden talks about his aspirations his career in MotoGP and what makes him tick.

Tissot sponsored Nicky Hayden was the proud winner of the MotoGP World Championship in 2006, but as his 2009 season doesn’t seem to be going quite to plan, we caught up with the Kentucky Kid for a little chat.

So, Nicky, tell us a bit about yourself

Well, I don’t have any big secrets really, I’m a motor cycle racer from Kentucky… that’s all I’ve ever really done, all I’ve ever really known and obviously now, riding motoGP makes me feel like I’m the luckiest boy in the world!

So was it natural progression into this industry?

It’s just always been what we’ve done my dad raced, my mom raced and both of my brothers are American Champions and my cousins raced… I guess we don’t know how to do anything else!

So, going back to 2006 when you won the championship, you haven’t repeated that… why do you think that is?

Well I mean I can’t just rattle off excuses and sound like a cry baby but I loved the 990 air, I think that really suited my style and I think that big, American super bikes and my background really helped me on those and things really haven’t clicked a whole lot in the last few years but we’ve still been somewhat competitive.

You’ve been seconds off the pace?

Well I’m less than that but I’ve still managed to get some podiums and be on the front row but I’m thirsty to get back to winning, that’s where the fun’s at!

Well, I must talk about Germany a few weekends ago, spectacular crash in practise wasn’t it?

Yeah! It was spectacular to watch but pretty scary to do, you know it’s part of our game. I mean the track had gotten really wet and I thought I had a good chance to get on the front row and was going forward but I was lucky that no one was hurt.

Just to talk about the start, it looked like you were going to challenge the leaders but then you just went quiet, what happened there?

Well I had a great start and then I got in to hard and was a little too hot and the pack swallowed me up, when I went to turn in David was there and I got pushed off and I just did not hav a good turn one and I slipped to 14th. I was my fault, I was 3rd going into turn one… I don’t want to talk about it really, I know I cold have had a good result but this season has gotten so much better for my now than in the beginning and I’m having fun and I’m really excited for the up and coming races.

So to talk abut the new rules, what kind of impact do you think that have had on the sport?

The whole switch to 800 turned out to be a dumb one, but that happens, we need to do stuff that enables the teams to continue racing, and I'm all for thatNicky Hayden

Well you know we just keep adding rules and more rules, I don’t like so many rules. The whole switch to 800 turned out to be a dumb one, but that happens, sure the economy situation and the recession you can’t deny that it’s here and that it’s real but we need to do stuff that enables the teams to continue racing, and I'm all for that!

Now, I’m a fan of yours and I find your style smooth, aggressive and very calculated in your riding, how do you describe your own style?

Well you did a pretty good job there! You know, I feel similar, pretty smooth and aggressive but I’ve worked really hard on is driving in the rain. I’m improving my rain riding and without that I could never have been world champion so I’m quite pleased with the progress we’ve made there but I still know I need to improve more, especially on my feedback to the team

I’d say I’m a pretty laid back guy who is determined on the track and doesn’t give up easily.

So to do what you do, you need to be incredibly fit to drag a bike around a track, what kind of preparations do you do?

Well I work with a trainer and certainly the level here is great, so anything to get an edge on them is brilliant. Physical training is important because it makes you mentally stronger and it’s really more important because this game can beat you down and I think the guys who are here year after year are the guys who are mentally strong enough to keep coming back but you need to go to the gym, have some strength and a bit of meat on your bones for when you have some of those crashes! But since we switched to 800, the lighter you are, the better.

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